You’d Have to Watch 7.5 Hours of Netflix Every Day to See Everything They Released Over The Last Three Months

If you have a Netflix account, you may have noticed that streaming service releases a lot of content. Like, a lot a lot. Like, a lot a lot a lot. Every time you log in, there’s an entirely new series to watch or several new films you never even heard of before. It seems almost impossible to keep up with the constant onslaught.

After crunching the numbers, we’re approaching a point where it would literally be impossible to watch all of Netflix’s original content. Variety says Netflix released 676 hours (not a typo) of content in the third quarter of 2018:

That’s more than double the amount of Netflix originals launched in Q3 2017 (289 hours) and up 50% from 452 hours in Q2 2018, Cowen & Co. estimated. The relative quality of that glut of new content is debatable, but Netflix’s track record shows that greater amounts of exclusive programming leads to higher sub growth and lower churn.

Let’s be generous and assume 90 days in a quarter. 676 hours spread across 90 days means a viewer would have to watch more than 7.5 hours of Netflix content every single day to keep up with everything the company released since July. I know Netflix made a business model out of binge-watching, but this is ridiculous. That’s not a binge. That’s a marathon meal that never ends until you turn into the wafer-thin mint guy from Monty Python and the Meaning of Life.

“Higher sub growth and lower churn” is good for Netflix, and it’s great that you can reeeeeally get your money’s worth out of your Netflix subscription. But how long is this pace sustainable? And when there’s so much stuff to watch, how can anything rise to the top? How does any single show or film get noticed, raise a discussion, and become a word-of-mouth hit? The frustrating reality is it almost certainly doesn’t.